- #36
Monique
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
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Yes, if you mate with a wild boar your offspring is going to look like a wild boar!
silenzer said:What I cannot grasp is that, let's say, these birds would have very similar beaks. Some would eventually get the "a bit longer beak" trait, but what are the odds of that happening? If mutations vary from a single gene in a cell located in the foot and to an extra limb being attached, what are the odds of getting a beneficial trait? Aren't they extremely small?
silenzer said:Hi,
I.
Why are the ears on the same spot in almost all human beings? I understand that if the human is too weird looking, he might not be able to get a mate. But a little weirder looks would happen if it would happen randomly, right?
Thanks.
silenzer said:Hi,
I stumbled on your website when looking for a good place to ask educated professionals.
I'm 16, I have a question on evolution.
Ok so let's say there are these birds on an island with a food source that require long pecks, but these birds have smaller pecks than needed. So after a long time, I'm not sure to say how long, the birds have developed a longer peck, enabling them to reach the food source.
Now, as I understand, mutations happen every day and most of them are harmless, and some of them don't even matter. Perhaps some small mutation in a stomach cell.
I also recall that mutations happen randomly, and not in any particular part of the body for any animal. Just completely randomly.
So how can these birds develop with themselves this long peck, even if they have millions of years to do it? A single, a single part in their body being transformed beneficially? And how come the animals don't have extremely weird shapes (within each species) if mutations happen completely randomly? Why are the ears on the same spot in almost all human beings? I understand that if the human is too weird looking, he might not be able to get a mate. But a little weirder looks would happen if it would happen randomly, right?
Don't think I'm against evolution, this is just something I can't grasp. I'm a pantheist, so I believe in evolution.
Thanks.